A Lotus for the Regent (20 page)

“
Ashamed of you?” Kamen took hold of her upper arms and held her out
to look into her face. “Absolutely not. Never.” He kissed her lips then, slowly
and tenderly, but with a building passion that had Ajalira soaked with desire
by the time he released her mouth. “But angry? Oh, yes, Lira. I am very, very
angry. For a concubine who always finds new ways to be troublesome, I must
always find new means of discipline.”

Ajalira's pussy
clenched at the mere word. She remembered the figging Kamen had given her—was
it only yesterday?—and she wanted more. “I will be good,” she said. “Or at
least, I will
try.
”

Kamen laughed, a
sound tinged with hunger, and he leaned so close to her ear that she could feel
his breath ruffling her hair. “Oh, by the time I've finished with you, you'll
be begging for mercy. And all you'll get is cock.”

Ajalira pressed
against Kamen, and wonder filled her. Kamen, her lover, her legal master, spoke
to her in ways that even her Lotus-trainer would not have dared. Kamen touched
her, spanked her, figged her, fucked her—and she did not feel shamed. She was
not sullied by his touch. He had absolute rights to her, and she wanted nothing
more than for him to take
full
advantage of that.

“
Lira, my naughty little concubine.” Kamen took her mouth, devouring
her lips. As he kissed her, his hands wandered up to the gold clasps that held
her translucent gown in place. He unhooked the clasps before releasing her
lips. “Go to our bedroom.”

Ajalira ran up
to the bedchamber, but she paused just outside the door. She knew that Kamen was
doing something, preparing something, for her discipline, and she resolved to
thoroughly earn it. She did not go inside the bedroom, instead standing
defiantly in the hallway.

“
Oh no.” Kamen, a small, silk bag in his hands, stopped in the
hallway, seeing her standing disobediently in front of the room. “You aren't
trying very hard to be good.” His eyes glittered, and Ajalira swallowed the
whimper in her throat.

“
Inside.”

She obeyed this
time, backing across the threshold. “I will be good.”

“
Too late.” Kamen picked her up bodily and sat on the edge of the
bed, turning her over his knee. Ajalira was not surprised by the stinging slap
on her ass, but the pleasure of it was not lessened by knowing it was coming.
She moaned, trying to rub her thighs together to ease the ache in her pussy.

“
No.” Kamen brought his open hand down on her other cheek, and
Ajalira bit her lip to keep from moaning again. Kamen must have dropped the
silk bag on the bed beside him, for Ajalira caught a glimpse of him rummaging
through something just before a blindfold slipped over her eyes.

“
You keep peeking, Lira.” Kamen rubbed his hands across her ass, and
then she felt his finger slide down into her pussy. She was drenched, and she
knew it. Kamen, however, pretended to be surprised. “You
like
this? What
am I to do with you?” His finger trailed up from her pussy to her ass, and she
felt him circling her rosebud, teasing her tight hole. Then something cold and
heavy was pushed up into her pussy, coating whatever it was with her juices. She
squirmed on Kamen's lap, but another slap to her ass stilled her. She gave
herself over to the sensations, enjoying the slow penetration with the cold
thing. Then Kamen slid the thing out of her pussy, but he kept it in contact
with her skin as he slid it up toward the hole of her ass. Now instead of his
finger, this heavy shape circled her.

And then he
pushed it inside her.

It was slick
with her arousal, so it slid in without much difficulty. Still Ajalira gasped.
It was utterly unlike the slow burn of the ginger-root. This was a fullness, a
pressure, that promised but never delivered. Clenching her muscles around it
only drove her further into desire. She ached for Kamen's cock to fill her.

“
Now stand up.” Kamen removed her blindfold.

Ajalira stood,
and the thing stayed in her ass. “What have you done to me, Kamen?”

“
I've plugged your ass, you naughty girl.” Kamen rose, too, and she
pressed herself against him.

“
Take me, please.” She wanted nothing so much as to feel Kamen inside
her.

“
But we are to be guests at the palace this evening.” Kamen gestured
toward the afternoon light streaming in through the window. “You'll just have
to wait until after dinner.”

“
What?” Ajalira's eyes grew wide. “But—”

“
I suppose you may suck on my cock a bit.” Kamen kissed her lips.
“But I'm not taking that plug out until after dinner at the palace. And I'm not
fucking you until then, either.”

Even as Ajalira
dropped to her knees to take Kamen's delicious cock into her mouth, she
whimpered. Every move she made pitched her arousal higher.

“
No one will be able to see that plug, Lira.” Kamen grasped her horns
as he thrust into her mouth. “Even though your dress is translucent, I put it
in far enough that the curves of your sweet ass hide the handle. But I'll know
it's there, and
you'll
know it's there. Throughout this whole evening,
while we dine with the little King and the Guildmaster and his Lotuses, you'll
feel me in your flesh. You'll know that I'm staking my claim on your ass.”

Ajalira almost
cried as she licked down the length of Kamen's shaft. He had known, as she
would have if she had thought about it for a moment, that they would have to
pass the evening with the Lotuses. He had known, too, how difficult that would
be for her. But now she would not have a thought to spare for these women. It
would not matter how they had treated her or what they thought of her now. She
belonged to Kamen, and she wanted nothing else.

****

“
Lira? Are you ready to leave?” Kamen's voice roused Ajalira from her
work, and she looked up at him and smiled.

“
Very nearly.” She fidgeted, the plug in her ass still maddening her
with desire.

But Kamen was no
longer listening. Instead, he was staring at her and her work. “I didn't think
you would be all the way in here. Or working on
that.
” He gestured to
the enormous X where she had so recently been bound and at his mercy.

Ajalira laughed.
“This room is one of my favorites in the house, and after what you did to me
earlier—” Here she patted the curve of her ass. “I could not think of going
anywhere else.”

“
We don't have time to play here, Lira,” said Kamen, pulling her up
and kissing her roughly. “Not before the King's supper at any rate.”

“
I know, but since you refused to touch me before, I had to do
something
with my hands.” She slipped out of his arms and showed him the neat little
contraption she had added to his X. “You see, my love, you have but two hands,
and sometimes they are both … occupied.”

Kamen chuckled,
and the sound sent a thrill through Ajalira all the way to her drenched pussy.
“So what have you designed to remedy my lack of extra hands?”

Ajalira bent
forward, purposely giving Kamen a view of her ass as she tightened the last
bolt. Then she flipped up the ribbed, brass dildo she had found among Kamen's
toys. “I have welded it onto these little gears here, and run those down to
these pistons.” She showed him the lines, running all the way to a pedal on the
floor. “You can pump this with your foot, leaving both your hands free for
other forms of discipline.” She smiled saucily.

“
Is it intended for your pussy or your naughty little ass?” asked
Kamen, running his hand along her flank, skimming her hips.

“
Either,” said Ajalira. “It is adjustable.” She showed him the two
different heights at which the dildo could be set.

“
I didn't know you were such an inventor.” Kamen's murmur at her
throat caused Ajalira's pulse to race.

“
It is a trait common to all Ausir,” said Ajalira. “But I have not
had cause to design anything before. Not until I came to you.” She leaned up
and kissed his mouth, and he responded by grabbing her hips and crushing her
against his throbbing phallus.

“
And after coming to me, coming
for
me, your mind has turned
to means of discipline.” Kamen's lips pressed against her throat in a bruising
kiss.

“
I am such a bad concubine that I thought it best to be prepared.”
Ajalira slid her hands under Kamen's skirt to feel the thick heaviness of his
cock in her hands.

A sudden slap on
her ass caused her to jolt, and she moaned.

“
The naughtiest concubine in Arinport.”

****

Lying in bed,
Ajalira stretched. Her ass and pussy both tingled. The plug was out now, but
Kamen had told her that he would use it again if he found her troublesome. She
smiled. She would have to find some way to be “troublesome” today, maybe even
troublesome enough to get strapped to his X.

Ajalira found
that more difficult than she had expected, however, for the return of the
Kimereth ambassador disturbed both Kamen's and her plans for the day.

“
I bring word from Lord Ansim Kimereth.”

Ajalira
interpreted, leaning down toward Kamen's ear to speak. As she did so, she noted
that the Seranimesti Lord was listening intently. He was just outside the
King's audience chamber, but he could, Ajalira knew, hear from that distance.

“
And what does Lord Kimereth say to my offer?” Kamen's face was
serene, his eyes as calm as pools of pitch.

“
Your generosity pleases my lord, and Lord Kimereth will be pleased
to host Your Grace and Lord Seranimesti at the Kimereth estates.”

Ajalira noted
the stiffening of the posture of the Seranimesti Lord, and she whispered that
to Kamen as she interpreted the ambassador's words.

“
I would be upset, too.” Kamen smiled slightly. “I must regretfully
decline the Kimereth's invitation to host. I will choose a neutral location.
Here?”

“
The Seranimesti will not agree,” said Ajalira, even before she
interpreted. “They are much farther north than the Kimereth. They will assume
that, even if you intend to be impartial, the sheer proximity of the Kimereth,
including their later ability to trade as well as their more present naval
power, will unduly influence your choice.”

Kamen's
expression did not alter as she spoke, but his eyes flashed with the last thing
Ajalira would have expected—admiration. “You'll have to tell me more of this
afterward, but do not even suggest Arinport then. It will be better if I show
them that, thanks to my lovely concubine, I have anticipated their objections.
Name Godswatch as the location.”

Ajalira nearly
burst with pride that Kamen so completely trusted her judgment. “His Grace says
that he will receive your delegations, hear your arguments, and arbitrate your
dispute. In Godswatch.”

The Seranimesti
Lord strode forward as she was speaking, but when she named the location, Lord
Tivanel Seranimesti stopped still.

“
Is there some objection, my lord?” Ajalira smiled at the lord who,
she knew, despised her for what he considered her misplaced arrogance.

“
No.” The Seranimesti almost stumbled over the word.

“
The Kimereth have no objection to Godswatch, either.” The
ambassador's shock was as visible as the Seranimesti's.

“
What?” Kamen raised his hands innocently as Ajalira interpreted. “Do
you think that the Sunjaa do not foresee your difficulties?”

“
How quickly can your lord be in Godswatch?” The Seranimesti
addressed the ambassador directly, but Ajalira continued to speak low in
Kamen's ear.

“
He will be there when it pleases the Regent.”

“
He must actually be in the north then.” Kamen nodded as Ajalira
whispered to him.

“
Yes, he must be closer to Godswatch than we are now, or he would not
be able to arrive in time, allowing time for the message to reach him.” Kamen's
eyes were full of pride.

“
In ten days I will hear your cases.” Kamen rose. “Prepare your
arguments, and have your statements ready for me then. Now I must set my own
house in order before putting the Ausir to rights.”

The Seranimesti
and the Kimereth ambassador both bowed as Ajalira gave Kamen's order to them,
but she saw how the Seranimesti, in particular, chafed at the command in
Kamen's tone.

“
And do not, Lord Seranimesti,” said Ajalira, catching Kamen's eye,
“think for a moment that the Regent is unaware of your pride. It is not his
intention to insult you, but when you sue for his wisdom, he shares it at his
own pleasure.”

Lord Seranimesti
bowed again, but his green eyes shone with fury.